Ukraine's Skifska Field Gets Bids from LUKoil and Exxon-Mobil

Both Russia's LUKoil and a consortium led by Exxon-Mobil have put in bids for the Skifska field in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Ministry for Ecology and Natural Resources has said in a statement.

Speaking to journalists, Ukrainian Minister for Ecology and Natural Resources Eduard Stavitsky said that the Ministry had received two bids for the field which is believed to have resources of between 3 and 4 billion cubic metres of hydrocarbons.

"Two bids have come in for Skifska: there was an individual one from Lukoil Overseas, and Exxon Mobil also made a general bid for a group of companies which included Shell, Petrom and Nadra Ukrainy," Reuters news agency reported him as saying.

A second field, which was up for tender at the same time as the Skifska field, the Foroska field failed to attract any bids, the Ecology Minister told the press conference. As a result of this lack of interest in the field, the tender process will now be postponed, Minister Stavitsky said.

The Foroska field is estimated to have between 2 and 3 billion cubic metres of hydrocarbon resources.